


The Wavesinger

by Poolesqaug



Category: Dungeons & Dragons (Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Fluff, Idiots in Love, Idk how to actually write but if I don't explore these scene ideas my head might explode, M/M, Mutual Pining, No really they're both idiots, angst maybe?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-14
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:47:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,491
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27550099
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Poolesqaug/pseuds/Poolesqaug
Summary: A/N: This is a story I wrote about a Dungeons & Dragons character that I am currently playing in a friend's campaign. This takes place a few years in his past, a little bit of backstory writing that I did for fun on a stormy day... that is now slowly consuming my mind and growing into something a bit more. Will there ever be more than 2 chapters? Do I know what a plot is? Was I shown enough affection as a child? Is it all just a long-winded excuse for me to write my D&D character kissing boys? Who knows? I definitely don't!***Natt travels the sea on a ship captained by his best friend he'd had since he was a child, Marius. He ends up loving being on the move, constantly shifting between different ports and getting to see many fantastical cities. On his travels, we'll get to see him learn a bunch about becoming a semi-famous musician, life on the sea, love, heartache, and other exciting things like murder and piracy! Join me in watching him blunder his twinky way through his early adulthood before becoming the charming disaster that we all know and love today.
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 1
Kudos: 1





	The Wavesinger

Ch1. A Near Miss

Natt was bent over a bucket in the corner of his room, which was rocking back and forth before his eyes. He squeezed his eyes shut and breathed slowly, trying with all of his willpower to stifle another wave of nausea.

“This blasted boat won’t stop bloody mo-” His half-hearted lament was cut short by a groan.

He pushed a damp golden curl away from his forehead and stood up to his full height, inspecting his face in a mirror above his washbasin. There were deep, dark circles under his green eyes, contrasting with the ghastly white of his face.

“Oh gods, not my looks, they’re all I have left!” Natt said. He pinched his cheek, and then his pointed ears, vainly attempting to bring some colour back into his face.

Natt lay across the foot of his bed, trying to ground himself in the scent of the freshly cleaned sheets for a few moments. He dragged himself upright and reached across the bed to pick up his lute. It was an old instrument, a present from his mother from a few years ago now. Of course, Natt was adamant that the scratches in the wood and the dullness of the metal gave the instrument character, as if his instrument appearing well-used could imply his mastery.  
However, that top string definitely needed replacing. 

Natt sat cross-legged, a small notebook in front of him as he returned to what he had planned for the rest of his day; finishing off a song that he was supposed to be playing later tonight at a dingy seaside tavern called The Siren’s Rock. He’d lied to the owner that he was a travelling famous musician and that she should be flattered that he and his… entourage had managed to make a stop off at this little sea town. He wasn’t sure that the owner, a sturdy human named Karla, had believed him but she’d let him play anyway.

Natt was now hastily trying to finish a setlist for a professional musician that didn’t exist. The incessant rocking of the sea was making progress somewhat difficult for him. He strummed a chord and softly sang one of the last lines he was working on. 

“- and she kisses the waves no more.”

He hummed thoughtfully and plucked a different chord. Neither of them seemed to fit with his ending lines. The seagulls outside answered his verse with squawks, like mocking laughter. His stomach lurched again with the waves gently rolling under the ship’s hull. Slosh. Slosh.

“Stars above, I think I’m finally losing it. What’s next, the moon itself falling from the sky onto my head?” he said, crossing his room towards the door, intending to give those seagulls a piece of his mind.  
“Someone is trying to work in here! Would you vicious bloody birds shut-”  
He kicked open the door to see a startled man in front of it with his fist raised, posed as if to knock. And not just any man, the ship’s captain stood there in front of the door to his quarters, mouth agape like he’d just seen a ghost.

“Sky above, Nathan, you look like a corpse, what in the sea’s depths has cursed you today?”

He wasn’t wrong, Natt had to admit that he did look particularly ghoulish today.  
The very shocked man opposite Natt stood several inches taller than him, with tar-black, short hair and a broad face, matched with even broader shoulders. Despite having known the other man since they were both boys, the captain had always looked significantly older than Natt. Growing up, the captain had always been stronger, taller and had the deeper voice of the two. He had a larger frame and a darker skin that came from working under the sun in open seas, and had recently grown a moustache that Natt wasn’t sure if he loathed or loved. Natt realised that a lot of things about his friend confused him or made his thoughts spiral into-

“Nathan… Natt?”

“Oh, er, Marius, er, hello that is,” Natt managed to stammer in response.  
“What on earth do you mean I look like a corpse? I’m absolutely fine. I just needed some fresh air and a break from my work.”

Marius followed Natt’s gaze to the flock of seagulls that were perched on the rigging of the ship. 

“Right, mate, you’re perfectly fine.” He rolled his eyes. “Come on. Let’s get some fresh air. Maybe you’ll even grace an old man like me with your presence, eh? It’s not every day that I get to speak with a famous musician!” Marius teased and led them to the starboard side of the ship, facing out towards the sea.

Natt gave a dramatic groan in response. “Oh please don’t, I’m suffering enough, I don’t need you making it worse. I still haven’t finished the songs off, focusing is difficult today, as you kindly pointed out.” He gestured vaguely towards himself.

Marius chuckled and rested one arm around Natt’s shoulders, which he lamely attempted to shrug off before resigning himself to the surprisingly comforting gesture.  
Marius frowned. “I thought you’d gotten better sea-legs by now, I’m sorry you’re not feeling great.” 

The feeling of Marius’ voice reverberating against Natt’s side made him feel oddly content. There was a very real danger of falling asleep on his feet if he didn’t do something. Naturally, he didn’t try to prevent that from happening.

“Normally I don’t feel this bad, I think it’s just this bloody mess I got myself into. My tongue a mile ahead of my brain again.” Not hearing an immediate reply, he glanced at Marius, who hid a blush behind his hand and cleared his throat.  
“For what it’s worth I liked the first version better,” Marius said. He knew that Natt was a perfectionist with his music and preemptively braced himself.

“Oh you’re an expert musician too?” Natt said, “is there anything my heroic captain can’t do?” His tired smile was enough to take the venom out of the barb for Marius, who puffed out his chest. 

“Well first of all,” Marius said pompously, “you already know that there’s nothing your fantastic, powerful and handsome Captain can’t accomplish, including putting you to actual work around here.”

Natt gasped. “You’d never do such a cruel thing!”

“And secondly,” Marius continued, deflating a little, “of course I’m not an expert, I just thought that you sounded better the first time... That the song sounded better, I mean. Oh, just forget it will you?”

“I’m sorry for biting your head off, it’s been a rough day. Will you... come to see me make a fool of myself tonight?”  
Natt shifted to look up at Marius, who was looking back at him strangely. The captain returned his hopeful gaze with a troubled one.

“Ah, Nath... I have business to get done, people to meet, deals to seal and the like,” he said gruffly.  
“Look, maybe I’ll get all the lads together and you can put on a show for them tomorrow. I’ll even try to wrangle enough headspace between the Twins so that they’ll manage to sit through one of your fancy stories.” 

Natt tried, unsuccessfully, to hide his disappointment and sighed, staring out at the waves gently caressing the sun on the horizon. “No. I understand, you’ve too much important work to do to waste time watching me play around. Marius, it’s fine, honestly.”

There was a peaceful silence between them for a few moments, only the sounds of passing dock workers and bickering seagulls punctuating their quiet breathing. The faraway threat of dark thunderclouds marred the otherwise striking deep reds and purples of the sunset that the pair looked out into. There had been more of those storms recently, during the long summer nights on the coast.

“We can’t all just sit around and look pretty, you know?” Marius chuckled.  
“Otherwise I’d be out of business with the crew trying to cast me off my own prow. And I know you’d bloody encourage them just for a bit of fun! Better me than you, eh?”

“I’m not pr-” Natt furrowed his brows and turned to look at his friend. There was an intensity in his companion’s expression that cut him off.

The light from the sunset glittered in his friend’s eyes as he stared, illuminating the yellow and lighter gold flecks in his otherwise brown eyes. His pupils looked alarmingly dilated to Natt, who was wondering if he’d upset his friend again. Their faces were close enough that Natt’s pointed nose threatened to bump into the other man’s broader nose as he looked up at the captain. Marius wet his lips nervously. Natt felt lightheaded.

Slosh. A wave slammed into the hull.

Natt tensed as he felt something truly terrible happening. He tore out of Marius’ grip and doubled over the railing, unleashing the contents of his dinner over the side of the ship.


End file.
